Threshold Concepts Research Articles

Using threshold concepts about online teaching to support novice online teachers

As online learning expands across the higher education sector, individual university lecturers are required to take on roles that incorporate responsibilities for designing and teaching online courses. Their growing capacities to fulfil these roles are sometimes supported by professional development (PD) programs within their institutions while some staff engage in staff development activities outside their home institutions. These programs and activities may take place within Communities of Practice (CoPs) while others are conducted on an individual basis. While much research has been undertaken into the field of online teaching and learning, including investigations into the most useful technological tools to incorporate into the design of online courses, the design of PD curricula to support the needs of novice teachers of online courses has not been as extensively explored. This paper reports on the outcomes of an Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) funded project which purposely set out to identify the threshold concepts about online teaching that university lecturers develop as they engage in both the individual and communal aspects of designing and teaching online courses. The paper explains how the identification of threshold concepts about online teaching informed the development of a set of curriculum guidelines for the PD of novice online teachers. Recommendations for the design of PD for individual teachers (at the “me” level) are provided along with recommendations for the institution (at the “us” level).

Standing upright here: critical disaster studies viewed from the Antipodes

ABSTRACT This article seeks to reinvigorate disaster scholarship, given the disastrous times we find ourselves in. In order to do so, we extend the spatial and temporal horizons of disasters, and consider them as normal processes as well as aberrant events. Knowledge need not exclusively emanate from the metropolitan centres of the Global North. We begin by examining the field’s ‘threshold concepts’, subjecting them to an urgent Indigenous evaluation. Second, as cities are the Anthropocene’s primary terrain, we illustrate the numerous ways in which the recovery from the Canterbury Earthquake Sequence offers global lessons. Third, leveraging understandings from the preceding sections, we orient towards a more hopeful intellectual frontier – a decolonised disaster studies as seen from the perspective of Aotearoa New Zealand. Since much disaster scholarship emphasises failure and loss, here we consider what will be gained through a fuller appreciation of mātauranga Māori.

Assessing outdoor and environmental education threshold concepts in Australian universities

AbstractCommunicating tertiary graduate skills and knowledge to employers is a contemporary issue in Australian outdoor education. Threshold concepts have been proposed as a positive way forward to a shared understanding between Higher Education (HE) professionals, students, graduates, employers, and other outdoor education stakeholders. While threshold concepts can offer a curriculum development framework that highlights the graduate capabilities of an HE outdoor educator, they do not specify how these concepts are assessed. In this paper, we explore the assessment of threshold concepts in HE degrees and then examine current assessment practices in HE outdoor education degrees. We highlight selected literature on assessing outdoor education in HE and then explore how other professions assess threshold concepts. Specific professions included have (a) identified threshold concepts and (b) considered the ability to practice upon graduation, as this has the most significant alignment with the professional role of an outdoor educator. We then describe current outdoor education HE assessment practices at selected Australian universities, highlighting the breadth and range of assessment methods incorporated in existing degrees. We conclude with a discussion of the role of authentic assessment and provide five recommendations for how academics might assess the seven HE outdoor education threshold concepts described by Thomas et al. (2019) to support communication of graduate capabilities to employers, students, graduates, and other outdoor education stakeholders.

What would an existential approach bring to research supervision in postgraduate psychotherapy and counselling psychology education?

AbstractBackgroundQualitative/phenomenological research approaches are popular in counselling psychology and psychotherapy post‐graduate training. This article attends to the experience of research supervision in this setting, where there is a need for containment, compassion, clarity and empathy (Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 2021a, 22, 689).AimsThis article aims to bring the philosophical development of qualitative/phenomenological research back into focus. It asks what extra value would be brought to the supervision of trainees through existential awareness and phenomenological exploration. The authors offer ways in which existential awareness can be developed and utilised in research supervision.Materials and MethodsThe results of a small survey into the experiences of students are used to ground our observations in practice.ResultsA relational tension is implied, where trust and good communication are essential. An existential anxiety could be prompted, when a trainee's world shifts from being homely, to uncanny and strange. In these experiences of groundlessness, the world no longer provides a sense of certainty about one's possibilities, and one feels estranged and uncomfortably self‐aware. Fostering this awareness can mean that teaching and supervisory relationships are experienced in their intersubjective, free and creative dynamics.DiscussionAttending to Threshold Concepts can support the transformational nature of professional training, which is often an experience of uncertainty. Likewise, Socratic Questioning and irony contribute to the development of critical thinking, reflexivity and the harnessing of assumptions.ConclusionExistential awareness will enable the development of more authentic relationships across the therapeutic and educational encounters of training.

Undergraduate Student Thinking on the Threshold Concept of Entropy

Undergraduate Student Thinking on the Threshold Concept of Entropy

Evaluation of monolithic crystal detector with dual-ended readout utilizing multiplexing method

Objective. Monolithic crystal detectors are increasingly being applied in positron emission tomography (PET) devices owing to their excellent depth-of-interaction (DOI) resolution capabilities and high detection efficiency. In this study, we constructed and evaluated a dual-ended readout monolithic crystal detector based on a multiplexing method. Approach. We employed two 12 × 12 silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) arrays for readout, and the signals from the 12 × 12 array were merged into 12 X and 12 Y channels using channel multiplexing. In 2D reconstruction, three methods based on the centre of gravity (COG) were compared, and the concept of thresholds was introduced. Furthermore, a light convolutional neural network (CNN) was employed for testing. To enhance depth localization resolution, we proposed a method by utilizing the mutual information from both ends of the SiPMs. The source width and collimation effect were simulated using GEANT4, and the intrinsic spatial resolution was separated from the measured values. Main results. At an operational voltage of 29 V for the SiPM, an energy resolution of approximately 12.5 % was achieved. By subtracting a 0.8 % threshold from the total energy in every channel, a 2D spatial resolution of approximately 0.90 mm full width at half maximum (FWHM) can be obtained. Furthermore, a higher level of resolution, approximately 0.80 mm FWHM, was achieved using a CNN, with some alleviation of edge effects. With the proposed DOI method, a significant 1.36 mm FWHM average DOI resolution can be achieved. Additionally, it was found that polishing and black coating on the crystal surface yielded smaller edge effects compared to a rough surface with a black coating. Significance. The introduction of a threshold in COG method and a dual-ended readout scheme can lead to excellent spatial resolution for monolithic crystal detectors, which can help to develop PET systems with both high sensitivity and high spatial resolution.

Two-stage intelligent dispatching strategy of PIES based on sharing mechanism

Aiming at addressing the economic dispatching challenges within the park-level integrated energy system (PIES), this study focuses on three PIES with distinct priorities. The proposed approach introduces a two-stage intelligent dispatching strategy for PIES based on a sharing mechanism. This strategy comprises a day-ahead intelligent dispatching method for PIES, grounded in a scenario threshold, and a real-time dispatching strategy for PIES based on the sharing mechanism. In the day-ahead phase, a scenario threshold concept is presented for an individual PIES and resolved through a novel modeling method and an intelligent algorithm to derive the day-ahead dispatching plan for the PIES. Subsequently, in the real-time phase, the synergy among the three PIESs is explored, and the sharing mechanism is leveraged to offset the uncertainty deviation observed in the high-priority PIESs. To meet the energy requirements of each PIES, the energy storage system is configured within the lowest-priority PIES. Simulation results demonstrate that the dispatch model developed in this paper exhibits faster convergence and possesses the capability to compensate for uncertainty deviations, thereby fostering a balance between source-load supply and demand. Additionally, this model establishes a research foundation for the cooperative optimal dispatch of multiple PIESs.

Ableism and Able Privilege: Integrating Social Justice Concepts in Rehabilitation Education

The concepts of ableism and able privilege are critical for understanding how power and privilege operate in our society to disadvantage disabled people. In this article, we report the results of an exploratory study on the effects of an able privilege training on attitudes toward disability among undergraduate students. Using a posttest-only control, 147 undergraduate students were randomly assigned to an experimental or control group. The control group completed measures of attitudes toward disability before the training, while the experimental group completed the measures afterward. Compared with the control group, the experimental group reported more positive attitudes toward disability equity and inclusion, but varied attitudes toward disability pathos and pity. Implications address able privilege as a threshold concept for understanding how institutional structures and ideologies shape the disability experience.

Quantifying the Threshold Effects and Factors Impacting Physiological Health Benefits of Forest Exposure

The growing awareness of the health advantages offered by forests has underscored the significance of forest exposure as an upstream preventive measure against disease. While numerous studies have confirmed the physical and mental health benefits associated with forests, there is still a lack of quantitative understanding regarding the relationship between forest exposure and physiological health benefits (PHB). Particularly, there is insufficient knowledge about the threshold effects derived from short-term forest exposure. In this study, we propose a PHB threshold model for assessing forest exposure that introduces the concepts of efficiency threshold and benefits threshold. A pilot study was conducted in three typical natural forest sites to validate the proposed model. Electroencephalogram (EEG) was continuously measured as the physiological indicator, while meteorological, environmental, and demographic factors were simultaneously collected. The results show that: (1) the proposed PHB threshold model is applicable in a natural forest environment; (2) despite the longer time required to reach the PHB thresholds, forest exposure yielded more significant and prolonged health benefits compared to urban green spaces; (3) meteorological factors, such as temperature and relative humidity, play a crucial role in impacting the PHB threshold model; and (4) exposure to forests is better for deep thinking and relaxation than urban green spaces. These findings emphasize the potential of forests to offer a respite from the stresses of modern life and promote holistic well-being.

Ambivalence and the unsettling aftershocks: Postcolonial perspectives on Vellem’s spirituality

Addressing a myriad of complex social, economic and political issues in the South African context requires that we draw from a variety of voices. This postcolonial reflection draws on the work of Vuyani Vellem’s African spirituality to highlight how it can help Africans conceptualise race epistemologically. The contribution emerged out of an article presented at a conference themed ‘unthinking West. The article employed the concepts of liminality and threshold to discuss the ambivalence encountered by Vuyani Vellem and highlights how his theological convictions still present unsettling ideological aftershocks within the unjust structures of society.Contribution: This contribution is a black liberation theological reflection, which laments how Vellem did not live to witness the full realisation of his dreams regarding the liberation of the black masses. The article identifies racial discrimination and misconceptions on African spirituality as some examples of the ‘unsettling aftershocks’ regarding challenges, which Vellem confronted within the unjust structures of South African society.

Using simulations to meld didactic and constructivist teaching methods in complex second year STEM courses

ABSTRACT This paper explores the effective development and use of interactive simulations as a learning tool, integrating didactic and active approaches with complex laboratory and lecture content in undergraduate biochemistry and immunology courses. University science courses require students to master vast quantities of foundational knowledge that is commonly taught using didactic approaches. Over time, students are required to become more active and teaching approaches become more student-centred, extending students’ application of knowledge, critical thinking, and creativity which relies on a student’s ability to recall knowledge. Identifying the right timing and means for shifting from didactic approaches toward an active approach is critical for maintaining student interest and extending their learning. Active learning can transform the perception of a given subject, phenomenon, or experience, allowing students to engage meaningfully and deeply with critical and complex ideas. This paper demonstrates how active approaches to learning through simulations have been effectively used to reinforce threshold concepts in laboratory and lecture settings and the impact on student learning is discussed.

Constructing child participation in early years classrooms: An exploration from Wales

AbstractThis paper addresses the research problem that arises from evidence that, despite supportive policy contexts, enactment of pedagogies that attend to young children's participation rights in classroom settings is highly variable. We report our exploration of the ways in which the child, and child participation are constructed in early education settings in Wales, where legislation and policy around children's rights has been a key feature of the Welsh Government agenda post‐devolution. Data were gathered via a qualitative online bilingual (English and Welsh) survey offered via email to teachers of children aged 3–7 in Wales. The overarching research question of the project was: How do teachers of children 3–7 years understand and enact the notion of participation as it relates to the children they teach? Data analysis focused on research participants' apparent constructions of the children they teach and their capabilities, and unpacked the ways in which these constructions relate to the reported opportunities for participation. The discussion is informed by the notion of the threshold concept, described by Meyer & Land as akin to a portal that opens new and previously inaccessible ways of thinking. We consider the extent to which the conceptual construction of the capable child maybe a threshold concept in shaping the realisation of children's participation rights in educative contexts.

Uncovering Challenges and Pitfalls in Identifying Threshold Concepts: A Comprehensive Review

Uncovering Challenges and Pitfalls in Identifying Threshold Concepts: A Comprehensive Review

Identifying barriers and strategies for achieving competency in removable prosthodontics in undergraduate dental students: a mixed-method study

BackgroundDeveloping competency in removable prosthodontics (RP) is challenging for undergraduate dental students because it involves threshold concepts and tacit knowledge. Understanding this process can enhance learning and professional development in RP. The objective of this study was to identify the barriers hindering knowledge (threshold concept) and skill (tacit knowledge) development, and to propose strategies for achieving RP competency.MethodsAdopting critical theory, quantitative and qualitative approaches were implemented. The participants were third- to sixth-year dental students and recent dental school graduates. An online questionnaire was used to investigate the knowledge and skills required for achieving RP competency and barriers to RP competency development. Four focus groups were conducted to gather in-depth information. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis.ResultsA total of 322 respondents completed the questionnaire (67% response rate), and 26 of them participated in focus group interviews. The four threshold concepts to achieve RP competency were the basic principles of RP, removable partial denture design, occlusion, and dental materials. The two main tacit knowledges were impression making and material handling skills. The curriculum should integrate strategies to assist dental students in overcoming intrinsic barriers such as self-experience, revision, and spatial-temporal relationship, along with extrinsic factors such as clinical correlations of content, discussions, and immediate feedback.ConclusionsThreshold concepts and tacit knowledge in RP for undergraduate dental students have been proposed The strategies to overcome barriers comprise intrinsic and extrinsic factors that include the adoption of experiential learning. This study suggests effective teaching methods and learning strategies to maximize student learning and RP competency development when designing the undergraduate RP curriculum in dental education.

An Integrated YOLOv5 and Hierarchical Human-Weight-First Path Planning Approach for Efficient UAV Searching Systems

Because the average number of missing people in our country is more than 20,000 per year, determining how to efficiently locate missing people is important. The traditional method of finding missing people involves deploying fixed cameras in some hotspots to capture images and using humans to identify targets from these images. However, in this approach, high costs are incurred in deploying sufficient cameras in order to avoid blind spots, and a great deal of time and human effort is wasted in identifying possible targets. Further, most AI-based search systems focus on how to improve the human body recognition model, without considering how to speed up the search in order to shorten the search time and improve search efficiency, which is the aim of this study. Hence, by exploiting the high-mobility characteristics of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), this study proposes an integrated YOLOv5 and hierarchical human-weight-first (HWF) path planning framework to serve as an efficient UAV searching system, which works by dividing the whole searching process into two levels. At level one, a searching UAV is dispatched to a higher altitude to capture images, covering the whole search area. Then, the well-known artificial intelligence model YOLOv5 is used to identify all persons in the captured images and compute corresponding weighted scores for each block in the search area, according to the values of the identified human bodies, clothing types, and clothing colors. At level two, the UAV lowers its altitude to sequentially capture images for each block, in descending order according to its weighted score at level one, and it uses the YOLOv5 recognition model repeatedly until the search target is found. Two improved search algorithms, HWFR-S and HWFR-D, which incorporate the concept of the convenient visit threshold and weight difference, respectively, are further proposed to resolve the issue of the lengthy and redundant flight paths of HWF. The simulation results suggest that the HWF, HWFR-S, and HWFR-D search algorithms proposed in this study not only effectively reduce the length of a UAV’s search path and the number of search blocks but also decrease the search time required for a UAV to locate the search target, with a much higher search accuracy than the two traditional search algorithms. Moreover, this integrated YOLOv5 and HWF framework is implemented and tested in a real scenario to demonstrate its capability in enhancing the efficiency of a search and rescue operation.

A Reflection On: Integrating Threshold Concepts and Ways of Think and Practising: Supporting Physiotherapy Students to Develop a Holistic View of the Profession through Concept Mapping

A Reflection On: Integrating Threshold Concepts and Ways of Think and Practising: Supporting Physiotherapy Students to Develop a Holistic View of the Profession through Concept Mapping

Dynamic analysis of a predator-prey impulse model with action threshold depending on the density of the predator and its rate of change

<abstract><p>The concept of an action threshold that depends on predator density and the rate of change is relatively novel and can engender new ideas among scholars studying predator-prey systems more effectively than earlier concepts. On this basis, a predator-prey system with an action threshold based on predator density and its change rate has been established and its dynamic behavior studied. The exact phase set and pulse set of the model were obtained conducting image analysis. The Poincaré map of the model has been constructed and the extreme value points, monotonic interval and immobility points of the Poincaré map have been studied. In addition, the nature of the periodic solution is discussed and we present simulations of the interesting dynamical behavior of the model through the use of numerical examples. An action threshold that depends on the density and rate of change of predators is more reasonable and realistic than techniques proposed in earlier studies, which is significant for the study of control strategies. It is the analytical approach adopted in this paper that allows researchers to explore other generalized predator-prey models more fully and in-depth.</p> </abstract>

Speed, human reality, and the ribovirocell of human existence in the COVID19 and post-COVID19 space-time

In this follow up paper, the ribovirocell concept from the first part of the study is linked to the ontological realm of human reality before, during and in the aftermath of COVID19. During this fluid space-time, human reality is multi-faceted and often very complicated. The authors present a division of the reality into fundamental reality and situational reality. Fundamental reality is based on the (physical) laws of nature such as the speed of light as a fundamental physical constant. This reality spans beyond the course of time as perceived by humans, which is beyond the duration of a single or multiple human lifespans and beyond the duration of the COIVD19 pandemic. Next to fundamental reality and overlapping with it, exists the situational reality, which humans experience directly themselves during their lifetime(s). Actions of humanity and of individual human beings contribute to the shaping of the situational reality. Examples of the situational reality can be e.g. experiencing atrocities that humanity has committed, humanity’s actions to prevent such atrocities in the future, as well as human progress in eliminating poverty/inequality in the world. At least, some aspects of human lives take place at the boundary between the fundamental and situational reality. The COVID19 pandemic is linked to the concepts and the boundary between the fundamental and situational reality that human’s experiences, such as speed of pandemic impact and shifting nature of reality. The ribovirocell state of one’s self is linked to the way to apply the speed as a threshold concept for resilience in the coronavirus space-time and the post-COVID19 world.

First-year University Students’ Experiences in Learning Threshold Concepts of Acids-Bases Chemistry

This paper interrogates the concept of threshold concepts (TCs) of acids-bases in the teaching and learning of general chemistry of first-year university students. Acids-bases chemistry has been identified by chemistry scholars worldwide as one of the threshold concepts (TCs) in chemistry that seems to be difficult and the culprit of most failures in chemistry. Acids-bases reactions are also central to learning of other chemical reactions within the discipline of chemistry and other science concepts in life sciences (biology) and physics. The paper is based on the challenges students experience in general chemistry, which tend to discourage students from studying chemistry or pursuing their studies in chemistry-oriented professions, such as medicine, engineering, agriculture, natural resources, and chemistry education; or responsible for students dropping out of the university education completely. To address this problem, we explored lecturers’ and students’ challenges that students experience in learning TCs of acids-bases chemistry and the students’ perspectives of chemistry. A qualitative research methodology was employed in the study. Data was collected through classroom observations and student focus-group conversations. A thematic approach was employed to analyse data. Five chemistry educators and their classes were purposely sampled. Vygotsky’s social cognitive development theory was used as a theoretical framework to understand the teaching-learning of acids-bases chemistry. Findings suggested that some students’ experiences transformed them into self-directed learners. Researchers can investigate other avenues to the portal in teaching-learning TCs.

Design of Low Power SAR ADC with Novel Regenerative Comparator

This paper introduces two low-power design techniques for a successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) used in transmitting physiological signals. The first technique is called dual split switching, involving the use of a one-sided charge-scaling digital-to-analog converter (DAC) to minimize switching energy by reducing leakage in a dual transmission gate. The second technique, known as the set and reset phase, determines the amplification and comparison phases of the comparator. This approach reduces the delay time of the comparator through the use of a folded cascode pre-amplifier and a regenerative latch. The design includes a Serial-in-Parallel-Out (SIPO) N-bit register and SAR, implemented using negative edge-triggered D flip-flops (DFFs). To optimize power consumption, the supply voltage of the SAR ADC is set to 500 mV. The concept of a variable threshold is utilized throughout the design to enable operation with this lower supply voltage. The SAR ADC is designed to support a sampling rate of up to 1 Msps (mega-samples per second). The circuit is implemented using standard UMC180nm technology. According to the test results, the power consumption of the SAR ADC is only 29.06 uW, and the achieved sampling rate is 5 Ksps (kilo-samples per second). The maximum differential non-linearity (DNL) is measured to be +0.9/−0.82 least significant bits (LSBs).